Pineapple tarts and butter nut cookies :Courtesy of Demona, for the Rat CNY Year.
Demona: Two batches of butter nut cookies required 2 blocks of butter. I chopped the golden yellow chilled butter into cubes to ease the rub-in method of preparing the dough. The fragrant buttery smell was deeply pungent!
Demona: Other ingredients eg: flour, sugar, vanilla extract, chopped nuts were added, and kneaded into a firm dough. I had to form them into long rolls and wrapped them with cling films before chilling them in the fridge. This would allow all the ingredients in the dough to hold, harden and firm itself.
Demona: While the rolls undergo the hardening process, I proceeded on to the pineapple tart dough preparation. Margarine was used instead of butter this time around. Check out how glistening, smooth, creamy-like the margarine became after stirring it with icing sugar! Could be mistaken for a creamy, custard pudding. SLURPS!
Demona: This was by far the most tedious step of all. Each tart was individually man(woman)-handled. I took a bit of dough, rubbed it until its colour turned slightly lighter and its texture softened. Then, I added the pineapple jam, each rolled into a little ball by mom so that the wrapping step is easier. By using a pair of tiny scissors, I snipped the tart's top to create the sharp, thorn-like appearance.
This baking frenzy recipe definitely relived my creative artistic side. Besides, the art of snipping, the art of painting was involved as well! I had to coat each tart with egg yolk using a paintbrush, so that it would become golden, buttery brown in colour once baked.
Demona: The golden brown baby pineapples looked pretty don't they? :) They smell absolutely wonderful! The sweet buttery smell filled the whole house. I did two pineapple tart recipes, yielding around 140 tarts. It took me a whopping, 4 hour to finish baking them. My neck was already straining like no tomorrow, and my eyes were weary. I am glad my mom was around to help, if not... I would have passed out, sleeping next my baby pineapples.
Demona: My rolls were nicely held firm by the time I was finished with the tart baking. This recipe is fast, easy, and requires simple ingredients.. and they taste down right ..*SLURPS*! You could not tell the difference between an amateur or a pro with this recipe.
All you need to do is cut the rolls into 1 cm width pieces. Bake them at 180 oC for around 10 minutes or until golden brown.
Demona: And.. WHOA-LAH! Heavenly bites! You could make it plain with only butter, or use other types of nuts or chocolate chips... depending to your preference. The beauty about baking butter cookies, you can add just about any complements that you like.. and you'll NEVER go wrong.
Demona: I personally preferred it plain, but oh well.. I had a huge pack of nuts kept in the fridge. Might as well put it to some use before it spoils!
Demona: Time to distribute! I will be giving some to my bosses for CNY (Ahem. Bodek. Bodek. Joking :)) Just a little something for them, and a bigger pack to bring to office for colleagues to share.
*winks* Don't worry, Dogma. Your tupperware .. is BIGGER than any of theirs, and is now nicely stored in the fridge till I meet you during CNY.
Demona: My Shandy had been accompanying me bake in the kitchen since noon, sitting under the kitchen table. By the time I was finished, he was way too exhausted. Caught him snoozing on the sofa chair. He thinks he's the King of the house, sometimes.
Verdict: I am greatly pleased with my baby pineapples. They tasted delicious! Crunchy, crumbly like pastry and when you get to the middle... soft, sweet sticky pineapple jam! My grandpa and brother, popped at least 6 tarts while I was halfway baking. So Dogma.. I shall wait for your verdict later!
The butter nut cookies, crunchy and fragrant! The taste somewhat resembled the Danish cookies we all eat when we were kids. You know, the butter cookies from the blue tin, some coated with sugar. After trying with and without nuts, I personally preferred it plain. Will use this plain butter cookie recipe from now on, this is by far the best butter cookie which I baked on my own.
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